


second soul

by relationshipcrimes



Series: prompt fics 3 [6]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Gen, He Got Better Don't Worry, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:34:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29480745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/relationshipcrimes/pseuds/relationshipcrimes
Summary: As an attendant of the Velvet Room, Ren remembers very little of what life was like before the Velvet Room and dedicates himself wholeheartedly to assisting his guest, Goro Akechi. If only, of course, Akechi would let him help him.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro & Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: prompt fics 3 [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2164914
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	second soul

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt "most of the time, it sounds like you. but sometimes, it sounds like me" / "second soul" from @gotoakechi on twitter

The Velvet Room's latest guest has a miserably small compendium, which Ren spends more hours reading than he should out of sheer boredom. There is quite literally nothing else to do: The courthouse has no walls and stretches in every direction into the distance, and is large and sprawling and empty, which Ren supposes says something about the shape of Goro Akechi's heart. But despite the judge's desk at the top of the room and the empty prosecution and defense benches, Ren is not here to judge, prosecute, or defend. He is here to be of service.

He does wish Goro Akechi would make this task a little easier.

Akechi flies through the door in the late evening looking so deranged that Ren wonders if he should be in a cage. The shape of the Velvet Room might feel better were it tightly closed and lined with bars—or at least more appropriate for the wild animal currently kicking a hole through the prosecution bench like a child in a tantrum.

"Please do not damage the property," Ren says.

Akechi whirls around, having apparently forgotten that Ren never leaves this room. " _You_ ," he snarls.

"Me," says Ren. Akechi always seems to act Ren is someone put here to personally victimize Akechi himself. "How may I help toda—"

"I'm going to wake you up myself," says Akechi inexplicably, and, for a lack of any other weapon in the Velvet Room, raises his fists and lunges.

Ren crushes him with a Megidolaon.

To Akechi's credit, he struggles to stand the second the dust clears. He slips and falls to his hands and knees. (Ren may have overdone it.) "Bastard!" Akechi howls into the floor. It sounds like a wild animal sobbing. "Let me summon a Persona and—and we'll see how strong you really are—!"

Ren hits him with another one. Akechi doesn't move after that. Ren takes a deep breath, straightens his jacket, and goes to get a bucket of cold water to wake him up.

Not a Samarecarm, of course; he doesn't need Akechi making a nuisance of himself at full health all over again. Just enough to get him up. "None of your current Personas are strong enough to make a difference," Ren tells him, raising his voice over Akechi's newly-awakened dramatic moaning and groaning and rolling on the ground.

"I'll..." Akechi wheezes through his teeth, and for some reason, Ren is quite sure that he was about to say _I'll kill you_ and stopped himself at the last second. "Shut up," Akechi says instead.

"Had a rough day?" Ren remarks dryly.

"I'm going to destroy you. I won't rest until one of us is in the ground, you arrogant piece of shit."

Ren smiles. That sounds like a fun way to pass the time.

Unfortunately they don't have a lot of time to pass with the deadline coming up, and Akechi is hardly fun to play with at his current level of strength. "Even with a Persona, Loki is your strongest and he still has a ways to go. You might get further if you had teammates to help you—"

" _Shut up about teammates_ ," Akechi snarls, although Ren has never mentioned teammates before now.

Ren opens up the compendium and spreads out the documents along the defendant's bench. "Well. To business. The ruin is coming, the deadlines are approaching, and I am sure you are eager to get started. How can the Velvet Room and I help you today?"

After what must have been a whole minute of Akechi weighing how much to resist, Akechi hauls himself up at a glacial pace, and sits himself heavily down in the chair on the other end of the bench, like he's sliding into a barstool on the other end of a restaurant counter. He slouches and sulks and stares at the wooden top while Ren maintains the perfect image of customer service and hands him a healing bead. Akechi's molars crush it in a single bite. Instead of telling Ren what he came to the Velvet Room for, Akechi chews through it in silence.

"May I remind you that the end of the world is fast approaching," Ren says.

Akechi keeps chewing, but now with an added obstinance of someone purposefully dragging his feet just to be a dick.

Ren wishes he had something to do with his hands while he waits. At least baristas and bartenders get to wash cups and glasses when they need something to do.

Finally, Akechi swallows, and says, "I went to a funeral today."

Oh, for God's sake. The fate of the world hangs in the balance and he wants to talk about his day.

"I see," says Ren instead. It is not good form to assume what a customer thinks of events when they open up at a bar, or a coffee shop, or anywhere else—even here, in Goro Akechi's courtroom heart. "How was it?"

"People were upset," says Akechi shortly.

Conversations with Akechi truly are like speaking to a grouchy child. And, somehow, this grouchy child was expected to prevent the entire world from coming to ruin. "I see," says Ren again. "They were upset because of the deceased?"

"Because I attended." While Ren figures out what to ask next, Akechi says: "And he... died young."

"That sounds difficult," says Ren again. "Would you like me to distract you?"

Akechi jolts like Ren personally tasered him. "Uh," says Akechi.

"You have a very limited compendium," Ren says, gesturing to the files in front of him.

"Oh," says Akechi.

"A Persona compendium only three entries long is hardly a compendium. It may be worth investing in expanding it."

"I'm going for quality over quantity," says Akechi sourly.

Ren makes a doubtful noise at the word _quality_. "Robin Hood—new and unusual choice, but he's a bit too much of a newcomer. Loki—an old classic, so a fairly tried and true Persona... if 'true' is the right word to use with a being like Loki..." Ren flips a page. "Arsène only recently made it to the status of a Persona. Record time to enter the collective unconscious, considering he only first appeared in 1905. But that makes him even more green than Robin Hood, and even more of a risk due to lack of experience."

Akechi sneers for some reason.

"In fact, it looks like you're the first person to ever use Arsène as a Persona. You're not the person I would have suspected to bring him into use—"

"I'm not the first," says Goro suddenly.

"We don't have a record of anyone before you," says Ren.

"Your records are wrong."

For a whole second, Ren suppresses the urge to reach across the bench and strangle the rude motherfucker—for ignoring him, for being a cryptic piece of shit, for behaving like a fucking child who Ren has to coddle, for stumbling in here after a funeral and trying to kill him like a shit joke, for being so obviously full of emotional complexes Ren has to navigate like a fucking minefield, for never being able to take an ounce of criticism, for refusing to cooperate, for refusing to even fuse a single shit Persona, ( _for lying down and letting the cognition try to kill him, for letting Akira bleed out on the engine room floor, for dragging himself around like a wounded animal when that was never the Goro he knew, for sitting on his ass while Futaba cried through the funeral service, for stealing Akira's fucking Persona and never using him, for staying silent or even mocking the Thieves while the Thieves tried to keep the team together through the long weeks of grief, when all Goro has to say is "He was my friend too," when it wouldn't even be a lie—_ )

Ren is a very patient person. That is his job. The Velvet Room is here for whatever Goro Akechi may need; that is the job of the Velvet Room. "I will take your word for it," says Ren, and moves on quickly. "In any event, taking full advantage of Persona fusions—"

"Duel me again," says Akechi.

 _Again_ implies they dueled before, which is not how Ren would have described turning Akechi into a smear beneath his heel. "Rather a waste of time when we have more pressing matters, don't you think?" Ren says carefully.

Akechi leans in over the bench. "Scared I'll win this time?"

Akechi talks a truly incredible amount of shit for someone Ren can demolish in two strikes. A duel is no fun if they're not equals, and Akechi has a long way to go before he'll be on par with Ren. (On the other hand, it's impressive that Akechi even survived the first blow, so there's that.)

"Creating new Personas is easily done through fusion," Ren says.

"Don't ignore me."

"If you sacrifice two," Ren says, ignoring him, "they will merge to create a new one. Alternatively, you may sacrifice one to feed another and increase its strength." From the look of it, Loki is far and away the strongest; if Akechi wants to go for quality over quantity, stacking Loki at the expense of everything else isn't a bad move. "The weakest of the three is Arsène. He may be better off sacrificed and fed to Loki—"

Akechi practically jumps out of his seat. "No," he snaps.

"I understand that it feels like murder, but I promise it is not."

Akechi stiffens at the word _murder_. Ren goes on, "Personas are easily resummoned from the compendium with enough yen—"

"You really don't remember?" Akechi says.

Ren takes a deep breath.

"Akechi," says Ren. "I do not know how you came to be chosen to be a guest of the Velvet Room. I do not know why Igor gave you the right to stand here." And Ren has more than one opinion about how worthy Goro Akechi is of having access to the Velvet Room. "But as the ruin approaches, I _must_ remind you that the world is at stake—"

"Fuck the world."

Ren's fingers curl into a fist. Akechi doesn't miss it, from the long, sharp smile on his face. "If you're so confident you'll win," says Akechi sweetly, "you don't mind if I beat some sense into you, do you?"

Ren smiles back. For a second, Akechi looks hopeful.

"I will fuse Arsène to Loki myself," says Ren.

"What? No—!"

"You do not have time to refuse these things," Ren says sharply, and assembles his compendium. "Arsène can always be resummoned. At the current moment, his strength is best lent to Loki—"

"You're not allowed to go against my wishes," Akechi says, more shocked than angry.

That's very cute, but not true. Ren isn't allowed to go against _Igor's_ wishes. And even there, Ren's thought at least a dozen times that Igor's gone senile for allowing Goro Akechi to step foot in the Velvet Room when Akechi clearly has no intention of using it properly, so it's not like Ren is incapable of defying Igor, either. "Please do not take it personally. The ruin is coming," Ren says. "I am doing what needs to be done."

"You won't even explain what the god damn ruin is—!"

Ren ignores him as Arsène bursts to life.

Taller than Ren had thought he would be. Lean, up to his neck in sharp angles and corset laces, the blazing red of fire and dark black of shadow. Arsène looks down impassively at him. Gives the slightest, most courtly of bows. Ren raises his hand to give the court orders.

Akechi tackles Ren to the ground.

Since Arsène is Ren's own summon, Arsène is the one to rip Akechi off him, dangling him by the neck like a vicious puppy. "Get a hold of yourself!" Ren snaps, still lying on the ground. "It's just a Persona!"

"Arsène doesn't belong to you!" Akechi screams, his pretty face twisted hideously.

"Arsène!" Ren orders. The Persona straightens to attention, _quite_ like as if Arsène _does_ belong to him. "Do what you have to."

"Let me go! Arsène! You're my Persona too, you belong to Akira, he wouldn't want—"

"The ruin must be stopped," Ren tells Arsène coolly. "The fate of the world lies in Goro Akechi's hands, now. He must be prepared. Lend your strength to him, so that he might succeed without us."

"I see," says Arsène, in a shockingly deep voice.

Ren nods. Arsène nods back. Arsène drops Akechi headfirst on the desk, where Ren seizes him before he can lunge anywhere troublesome.

"Don't do this!" Akechi is bellowing, before he shuts up at the gentle touch of Arsène's claws against his cheek. Arsène's eerie fangs seem to smile.

"If such is the path forward for the rest of the world," Arsène says, "I am not so arrogant as to refuse without grace. Be at peace, Goro Akechi. Although we may be chained to hell itself, our justice may live on yet."

Arsène draws his hand away and bows lowly. " _Akira_!" Akechi screams, and then Arsène bursts into flame in the middle of the courtroom floor.

When it's done, Arsène is a pile of ash. Akechi has stopped fighting against Ren's grip, which is good, because he really had tried to jump into the fire just then. "How does Loki feel?" Ren asks.

Akechi wrenches his arm away. Ren lets him. When Akechi refuses to respond, Ren runs his hand through his hair, smoothing himself out, squashing the curl of guilt as easily as he'd crushed Akechi earlier.

"He can be summoned again," Ren says placatingly. "Here, like so—" And he waves his hand.

Nothing happens.

Ren summons Arsène again.

Nothing happens.

There's a moment of silence.

And then Akechi starts to laugh.

"Of course," he says, like he's got it all figured out, only adding to the complete bewilderment Ren feels staring at his own empty hand. Akechi staggers to his feet, grinning wildly at the pile of ash. "Arsène was the Persona of the guest of this room before me," Akechi says pleasantly, a savage triumph in his expression. "That was the funeral I went to today, you see."

Ren's hand falls uselessly to his side.

"I suppose the Persona died with his owner, hm?" Akechi giggles.

 _Fuck_ , Ren thinks. He doesn't know how that happened. That's not _supposed_ to happen.

"I summoned him from his soul when Akira's body was still warm," says Goro, visible glee increasing as Ren's heart sinks. "I tore my own face off and _made_ him come to me, just to keep that last scrap of him left. I carried him around in my heart every day since then."

"I," says Ren. "I'm sorry."

"I felt like an insane person, talking to Arsène in my own head. Sometimes, it sounded like I was talking to myself." Akechi's eyes are narrowed to slits between his fingers. "Most of the time, Arsène sounded like you."

"I hadn't known," Ren pleads.

Akechi leans back, his hand covering his eyes, laughing freely. "No—no. You're right. It was insanity. Talking to a little demon in my own head! Hanging on the every word of some unkempt attic boy! Lurking in your shadow just to hear his voice! For what?" The laughter stops. " _For what_?!" Akechi snaps at him suddenly, but even though the question is no longer rhetorical, Ren doesn't know how to answer. "I was a fool for hoping to see him again."

"I'll talk to Igor," Ren says a little frantically. "I really didn't know, Akechi, I thought he would be easily summoned back—"

"Thank you for showing me how ridiculous this was. I should have let go a long time ago."

Unsteadily, Akechi heads towards the exit. "Wait!" Ren calls out frantically. "What about the deadline?! What about the ruin? What about the world and its fate—"

"This world can rot in hell," Akechi says without looking back. He hesitates only once, shakes his head, and vanishes from the Velvet Room.

* * *

The Velvet Room's guest before Akechi clearly messed up, if the world is now in Akechi's hands. But then again, the fault still lies with Igor, for allowing Akechi into this place.

Which is not to say that Ren himself hasn't done a marvelous job of botching his job as an attendant, but he thinks there is enough blame to go around for everyone at this point.

Ren looks up from his papers. Nobody has entered or exited the room, but now Igor sits at the judge's desk, his spider-leg fingers tapping the wood at the serene pace of someone entirely self-assured in his power. Ren nods in greeting.

"And how," Igor says at the same slow pace, "is our most esteemed guest doing today?"

Ren's suspicion is that Igor knows he fucked up with choosing Goro Akechi as the guest of the Velvet Room. Ren may be the Room's attendant, but he is allowed his opinions on how it is run. "An unusual occurence happened today. A Persona sacrificed for a strengthening fusion seems to have died permanently."

"Hm," says Igor languidly.

When Igor does not elaborate, Ren presses, "Do you know anything about this...?"

"I do not. The Velvet Room is a strange place, between mind and matter. We cannot always understand what the souls of humans will do. Especially ones as willful as Goro Akechi's."

There's something there—Ren will have to make a note to investigate it later. "Something troubles you," Igor says.

"He is resistant to accepting help," says Ren, in the mildest version of his thoughts on the matter. "Which is unfortunate, as the Velvet Room specializes in giving help."

Even Igor's chuckles seem stretched out through a slow-motion filter. "He is... headstrong. You are at a disadvantage. We have had guests who were resistant before, but they have had the full year to come to a... change of heart. You are working with a much tighter deadline."

Ren considers this. It is one thing that Igor has chosen badly in inviting Goro Akechi to the Velvet Room, but it's entirely another if Igor has acknowledged that Goro Akechi is an imperfect guest. It even makes sense, then, that Ren was chosen to attend him."So my task is to not simply aid him in his quest, but to change his heart before ruin comes to pass?"

Igor blinks. Or rather, Igor closes his eyes and then reopens them over the course of five seconds. At length, Igor says: "As he is now, he is not well-equipped to fulfill the role he has been given."

Ren frowns. Sometimes, he doubts Igor's judgment—in the case of Goro Akechi the most. "So the fate of the world lies in the hands of someone incompetent."

"Not incompetent," says Igor. "Ill suited. And heavily disadvantaged."

Ren frowns deeper. "Fate," Igor says without any feeling, "has been unfair to him. Other players in the game have stacked the odds against him."

"So it's not his fault."

"It is."

"It isn't. Should ruin come to pass, it wouldn't be his—"

"It would," says Igor. "The law within his heart—" Igor's hand drifts towards their surrounding courtroom "—says it is so. And it will be judged so."

"By who?"

"Himself. To Goro Akechi, his is the only law that matters. Thus so the Velvet Room shall operate."

Ren studies the file's shadowed image of Arsène Lupin: A thief, a lawbreaking criminal, someone who took matters and morality into his own hands and lived only by his own creeds, his own rules, his own sense of justice... Yes—Ren can understand how Akechi summoned Arsène after all. Grief may have had its hand in it, but the similarity is not nonexistent.

"It changes little about the situation," says Igor. "Should Goro Akechi fail in his task, the world will come to ruin. If Goro Akechi is to change the game, he must first be... persuaded."

Persuading the boy whose friend's Persona Ren accidentally executed will be a task. But on the other hand, Ren doesn't really have a choice—not when the rest of the world hangs in the balance.

"It is my task to change his heart," Ren repeats.

"Indeed."

"And in so doing, the world may still yet be saved."

"Indeed."

Ren stands up straight. "Then it is my honor to follow your judgment," says Ren. "Forgive me. I will not doubt you again."

Igor sinks deeply downward into his chair, his corners of his smile stretching up. "Indeed," he says. "I have only faith that you will fulfill your role perfectly from here on out."

**Author's Note:**

> twitter [@p5crimes](https://twitter.com/p5crimes)  
> tumblr [@akechicrimes](http://akechicrimes.tumblr.com)


End file.
